October 2011

10/24/2011

Today I would like to share and review the Motorola Talkabout Two-Way Radioswe received as gifts this year. I would have to say as a family that has a very active outdoor lifestyle, tools such as these make family time more enjoyable.

I would like to say I'm a "mother-bear" at heart. What I mean by this is, when out with the family I always need to know where the kiddies are at all times. That being said, you can already guess that before the walkie talkies the kids explorations were limited. Now, with these in hand, they are enjoying new found independence. Unfortunately for me the childrens new found independence comes with a price. That price would be the cost to replace a water logged radio. Note to anyone buying electronics and giving them to children, explain the limitations of the equipment before handing them out! I learned the hard way.

On with my review. We have four blue Motorola Radios, I like the color but I feel when it comes to kids the brighter the better. That way the chances of them being forgotten or left behind is minimal. So Motorola, if your listening, maybe you could consider a bright yellow or even a glow in the dark casing. Kids love ANYTHING that glows in the dark.

Practicality. They come standard with a clip for attaching them to backpack straps, pants, or shorts. What's nice are these clips are easily removable with just a squeeze, with the clip removed these radios are small enough to be put in a pocket of a vest or jacket as well as an exterior pocket in a backpack. I would not recommend attaching these to the neck of a shirt. My eldest daughter had it clipped to her t-shirt collar and as she bent over to catch a frog it fell into the water. Bummer! As for being waterproof, not so much however Motorola says they are weather-resisant.

Radius. The radios have a 16 mile radius but I don't think we'll ever let the kids stray that far! We have yet to fully test them to this extent but we do know they work at least a couple of miles in heavily treed and mountainous terrain. We have also tested them around town a bit with shopping trips and they met our expectations with this as well.

Convenience. I will have to say this, the kids sure enjoy having more freedom exploring. Independence is a wonderful thing. These make calling the kids for meal time a snap. I also like the fact that there are many channels to use, this comes in handy when there are other families using FRS radios in the same area. On the same note, this feature is also great when the kids make friends with other campers that have FRS radios; all they have to do is turn their radios to the same channel to keep in contact.

After using these radios on a couple of trips I cannot see us without them. I'm working up a list of gear that is essential for setting up a kids backpack, these are now on the list. I've been doing some research on adult radios trying to find a handheld GPS device that can work in conjunction with the kids radios. There are a many available from different manufacturers and when I pull the trigger I'll share my experience with you.

As for recommending these, oh heck yes! Go get yourselves some Motorola Talkabouts and enjoy your time outdoors with the family a little more. And what's really great is that they are sold at most stores that carry camping/outdoor gear plus there are many accessories that can be paired with them.

10/06/2011

We went to a new spot on the American River, Codfish Falls. We have heard from several different people that we should consider taking a day trip and check out this location when we get a chance. Camping Girl has mentioned a couple of times that we should go here, but we always seem to find another place to go. Until now!

Getting there is simple enough, from Sacramento it is about 50 miles to the bridge. From Sacramento go East on Hwy 80, take exit 130 towards W Poali Ln. Make a right on Ponderosa Way and continue when you hit the gravel part of the road. There's about 2.5 miles of gravel road before you get to the bridge. The road gets bumpier the closer you get to the river.

The other way to reach the bridge is going down Foresthill Rd. From Sacramento take 80 East towards Lake Tahoe, take exit 121 Foresthill Road. You will drive over the Foresthill Bridge (which is under construction for retrofitting), which unfortunately blocks your view across the canyon to your right. As you drive east you will pass the road to Lake Clementine on your left and if you look to your right you may be able to catch a glimpse or two of the Cool Cave Quarry accross the canyon (this can be seen on our Quarry Trail Hike from May 6th 11'). You will make a left onto Ponderosa Way and follow it 3 miles until you come to the bridge. Both ways to the bridge are over gravel roads, I made it in a mini van that has about 7 inches of ground clearance. So just drive slow and straddle the potholes. We came in from the Foresthill side and left going towards Weimar. I would recommend going the Weimar route since there seemed to be fewer potholes this way. *The road driving by way of Weimar is steep with cliffs.

There is limited parking here so if you plan to come here during the summer I would try to arrive as early as possible because this place looks as if this would be a great location to cool off. There are two Porta-potties near the registration/fee box, they were decent. On our way down from Foresthill Rd. we used a Porta-potty that was about half the way down to the river and it had just been cleaned. The kids even joked around saying they had never smelled a better Porta-potty, ever.

The Codfish Falls are said to be spectacular and the trail to get there just as beautiful with the blooming flowers and birds to greet you along each bend. From the bridge Codfish Falls is only a 1.7 miles hike, this is one way of course. As we hiked along the American River we passed a couple of guys panning for gold, if you look across the river as you hike towards Codfish Creek you will see many remnants of dredge mining (these are the uniform mounds of dredged cobble tailings). About a 1/4 of a mile past the trail head you will come upon a discovery marker. There is a box on the right that usually has pamphlets inside with information for the discovery markers along the trail, I believe there are 14 markers on this trail. Unfortunately there were no pamphlets the day of our hike. I have added a printable pamphlet below so that you may plan ahead.

There are a couple of brown outhouses along the way, I believe these are just for extreme emergencies because you would have to be very desperate to use them.

The trail is fairly level with not much of an elevation change. About half way down the trail the six of us split up with Uncle Leo and two of the kids decided to jog the trail. Camping Girl isn't much of a runner so I walked with the other two kids. If you decide to take a leisurely approach on this trail be sure to bring one of the pamphlets with you. There are numerous spots to stop and take it all in. Unfortunately due to our different traveling speeds we were seperated and no longer within ear shot. When we came to a fork in the trail we really didn't know which way the others had gone. I decided to take the trail towards the water figuring a water fall would be near water. I had the kids look for Keen footprints in the dirt to make sure we were headed the right direction but we didn't see any. Fortunately, we brought with us the walkie talkies the kids got for their birthdays. This was the first time we actually used them and they sure came in handy. Thanks Auntie! Eventually we all caught up at the falls.

We hoped we would get lucky and there would still be a fair amount of water at the falls but no such luck. During this time of the year the falls are barely trickling so if you want to see cascading water come during winter or spring. But if you want easy river crossings now is the time of the year. : ) After visiting the falls we turned around and headed back toward the river. We crossed right before the 2nd outhouse on our way back. The water was super warm and the water was slow enough to make the crossing easy. At the other side we played for at least an hour or so making cairns and lounging in the water. We decided to check the other side of the river to see if there was another trail leading back to the parking lot. For those of you that don't mind heavy brush and poison oak you just might eventualy find a trail. We decided to turn around so we wouldn't suffer the consequences.

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Many of the activities I describe here on this site involve traveling to outdoors areas and then walking and doing related activities in those areas. As with any activity, there are potential dangers involved. These potential dangers can include, but are not limited to:
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2. difficult terrain that can result in falls
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5. insects
6. getting lost
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